Murphy Brown

Murphy Brown was an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988 to May 18, 1998. It starred Candice Bergen as Murphy Brown, an investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional newsmagazine.

Recurring Characters

A number of recurring characters also appeared during the show's run:

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• Jay Thomas appeared in several episodes as tabloid talk show host Jerry Gold, who became a friend of Murphy's, and an occasional love interest, despite their significantly different journalistic values.
• Colleen Dewhurst appeared in a number of episodes as Murphy's mother, Avery Brown. Dewhurst won several Emmy Awards for her appearances. When Dewhurst passed away in 1991, the writers chose to have her character die as well, and Murphy, who was pregnant the following season, named her son Avery in her mother's memory.
• Darren McGavin appeared in several episodes as Murphy's father and earned an Emmy nomination in 1990 for his performance as Bill Brown.
• Scott Bakula appeared as reporter (and occasional love interest for Murphy) Peter Hunt.
• Jane Leeves appeared in a number of episodes as Miles' girlfriend Audrey. Her appearances ended when she joined the cast of Frasier.
• Robin Thomas appeared as Jake, Murphy's ex-husband. Murphy and Jake had another brief relationship, and Jake was the father of her child.
• Garry Marshall appeared as network president Stan Lansing.
• Jean Stapleton appeared a few times, playing Miles' grandmother, Nana Silverberg.
• Frank Fontana's mother was played by Rose Marie.
• Paul Reubens, better known as Pee-Wee Herman, appeared as Lansing's nephew Andrew, who was, probably not so surprisingly, one of Murphy's 93 secretaries.
• In the show's final seasons, when the younger Avery was of school age, he was played by Haley Joel Osment.